The History Book

160

MY CONSCIENCE

IS CAPTIVE

TO THE WORD

OF GOD

MARTIN LUTHER’S 95 THESES (1517)

I

n the autumn of 1517, Martin

Luther, a monk and teacher of

theology at the University of

Wittenberg in Germany, set off a

chain reaction that would transform

Europe. Deeply concerned by what

he saw as corrupt practices in the

Catholic Church, he wrote a series

of 95 theses—arguments—against

them, which he then circulated

within the university. According to

some reports, he also nailed them

to the door of the Castle Church in

Wittenberg. The theses were soon

published more widely, prompting

Pope Leo X to charge Luther

with heresy. Luther responded by

breaking with the Catholic faith,

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Reformation and

Counter-Reformation

BEFORE

1379 English reformer John

Wycliffe criticizes church

practices in De Ecclesia.

1415 Czech reformer Jan Hus

is burned at the stake.

1512 During a stay in Rome,

Martin Luther’s eyes are

opened to church corruption.

AFTER

1520 Lutheran services are

held regularly in Copenhagen.

1534 Henry VIII of England

breaks from Rome and

becomes head of the church

in England.

1536 John Calvin begins his

church reforms in Switzerland.

1545–63 The Council of Trent

reaffirms Catholic doctrines,

beginning the Counter-

Reformation movement.

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161

See also: The Investiture Controversy 96–97 ■ The beginning of the Italian Renaissance 152–55 ■

The Defenestration of Prague 164–169 ■ The execution of Charles I 174–75 ■ Henry VIII breaks with Rome 198

so initiating the Reformation—the

rise of churches based on reformed

practices, and a focus on scripture

rather than on priestly authority.

Because of the churches’ origin in

protests against Catholic practices

and beliefs, they became known as

Protestant churches.

Spread of the Reformation

Luther was not alone in seeking

religious reform. Swiss preacher

Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531) led a

Protestant church based in Zurich,

and Frenchman John Calvin broke

from the Catholic church in around

1530. Forced to flee France, he went
      to Geneva, Switzerland, where he
      supported the reform movement,
      eventually helping to shape
      Protestant doctrine.
      Reformers’ beliefs did not
      necessarily concur. Calvinists were
      markedly different from Lutherans,

and Anabaptists were persecuted

by Protestants as well as Catholics

for their radical views. Luther

himself supported the brutal

suppression of the Anabaptist-led

Peasants’ Revolt in the 1520s. What

the Protestants had in common

was that their views brought them

into fundamental theological

conflict with the Catholic church.

Reformers’ ideas spread via the

relatively new technology of the

printed word. Before movable type

and presses made printed books

possible in the 1450s, books were

all written by hand in Latin, the

international language of the

church. Print allowed information

to be reproduced cheaply and

quickly, and demand rapidly grew

for books written in the vernacular.

Luther wrote his theses in Latin, but

before long they had been translated

and printed in German, French,

English, and other languages. Books

and pamphlets describing church

abuses and outlining Protestant

theology soon followed, and were

printed in large numbers.

THE EARLY MODERN ERA

Injury is done to

the Word of God when,

in the same sermon, an equal

or larger amount of time is

devoted to indulgences

than to the Word.

Martin Luther, 1517

Importance of The Word

A central idea in Protestant theology

was that authority came not from

the priesthood, but from scripture

itself. For this reason, access to

the Bible was essential both for

the reformers and their followers.

Bibles printed in native European

languages were appearing by the

16th century, Luther’s German

translation of the New Testament

was published in 1522, and a

translated version of the whole

Bible including the Apocrypha

followed in 1534. A year later, Miles

Coverda le (1488–1569), sometime

friar, preacher, and Bishop of Exeter,

produced the first complete Bible

in English. A French translation

by theologian Jacques Lefèvre

d’Étaples (c.1450 –1536) appeared

between 1528 and 1532.

By the mid-16th century,

Reformation ideas had been widely

disseminated. Lutheranism spread

across Germany and Scandinavia;

Calvinism took hold in much of

Switzerland, and made significant

inroads in Scotland. There were ❯❯

At the Diet of Worms in 1521,

Luther refused to recant: “Unless I

am convicted of error by the testimony

of Scripture... I cannot and will not

retract.... Here I stand. God help me!”

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